With its cool climate, a geographical location that protects it from natural disasters like major earthquakes, and abundant, affordable sources of energy, Québec is an ideal location for data centres.

Green, reliable and affordable energy

With an installed capacity of 36.9 GW and a storage capacity of 176 TWh, Québec is the largest producer of hydropower in Canada. Hydropower accounts for 99% of all energy produced in Québec. What’s more, it’s a green, renewable and affordable source of energy. What more could you want?

Québec’s power grid, the largest in North America, is one of the most reliable and self-reliant systems in the world.

North America’s power-transmission system is regulated according to the highest standards.

An ideal climate for data centres

Québec’s long winters and temperate summers make it easier to maintain proper server temperatures. For data centres, that’s essential. Cool air and nearby bodies of fresh water are important assets that facilitate equip­ment cooling, leading to substantial energy savings.

Safety and security

Québec is located in a stable geological zone, in the northern reaches of the North American continental plate. This strategic geographical position protects the province from many natural disasters, making it an ideal spot for organizations concerned about protecting their data.

A profusion of bandwidth providers

In Québec’s large cities, you’ll find enough bandwidth to meet your needs. The province has a large number of top-tier Internet providers, including Level 3, Tata Communications and Verizon.

Legislation that keeps personal data safe

In 2000, Canada passed the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. This law protects consumers by setting guidelines for access to personal information and requiring the industry to meet specific security standards.

Focus on Data Centres in Québec

Three years after after opening the world’s largest data hosting centre in the Greater Montréal area in 2013, French cloud-computing giant OVH set up its North American R&D lab in Québec City, the location of several large-scale data centres, including 4Degree Colocation.

IBM announced the opening of its SoftLayer cloud centre in Drummondville, in spring 2015, whereas the multinational Ericsson inaugurated its $1.2-billion research and data hosting facility in Vaudreuil-Dorion in late 2016. Following in the footsteps of ROOT and Cogeco Data Services, Toronto-based Urbacon established one of Canada’s largest urban data centres in 2017 and Amazon Web Services (AWS) opened its first Canadian data centre, both in Montréal.

“As the second-largest city in Canada, Montréal is a vital centre of commerce and technology. Canada is an important market for IBM Cloud services and this new facility will provide regional customers with the security, resiliency, and scalability for placing demanding workloads in the cloud.” Marc Jones, SoftLayer’s CTO.